Summer School 1983

CHINESE MEDICINE

Literary legends of the origins of life are similar throughout world cultures, but in China perhaps a bit older. So, written records in the period of the Han Dynasty refer to a prehistoric Shennong, ‘Spiritual Farmer’: an intelligent man who became the tribal leader. Men like these not only taught people how to grow things from the earth, but also told them about herbs to use when they were sick. His Ben Cao (‘from the grass’) classic divided herbs into three categories:

1. Superior drugs, non-poisonous, possessing rejuvenating properties, which can be taken for a long time without any harm ... ‘it won’t kill you, it won’t cure you’!

2. Medium drugs, possessing tonic effects, with toxicity depending on the dosage, so not too much was taken.

3. Inferior drugs, employed to cure disease and considered ‘poisonous’, i.e. producing side effects, also often using actual poisons to counteract poisons, and should therefore not be taken for any length of time.

Still semi-legendary, though more historical, was Huangdi, the ‘Yellow Emperor’, another leader who was an expert on herbs and drugs. He was responsible with a doctor, Qibo, for writing the Nèijīng (‘inner classic’) which became the canon of orthodox Chinese medicine, accepted by later scholars.

Religion and medicine: the relation between body and mind, unorthodox Chinese medicine, an area in which there were sorcerers, the use of wine, priest doctors worshipping specific deities, witch doctors, faith healers ... all depending on faith, though faith healers as such used no material objects, only faith.

Philosophy and medicine: the Chinese philosophy of disease, the other side of the coin being the philosophy of health ... and here is where Miss Li would locate Tai Ji. But this area was a bit dominated by scholastic subtleties and characterised by respect for authority, petrified formalities and pedantic excess of detail. However, within this were two central doctrines which formed the basis of all Chinese medicine:

1. Yin and Yang, ‘the two principles’, which generates the Bagua, ‘eight changes’, with strong relations to mathematics, astrology and the I Ching. Miss Li said she accepted the validity of this connection, but did not follow it herself. It uses the straight and broken lines to record natural changes. It is supposed to date from Fu Xi, who was given a revelation on the backs of the crane and the turtle. Each of the eight changes has a special name and a symbol, but without a very precise definition: it depends on personal interpretation, and that personal meaning can be very hard to communicate. Yin/Yang represent female/male, soft/hard etc. In terms of our human body, the skin is Yang, the inside is Yin; the back is Yang, the front is yin; the empty organs are Yang, the solid organs are Yin; the heart and liver are Yang, the spleen, lungs and kidneys are Yin.

2. Then comes the Wu Xing, ‘the five elements’. The human frame is supposed to be made up from a harmonious mixture of these five primordial substances. Proper health depends on a good balance of the five elements. Sayings reflecting the importance of balance are: ‘when you are too happy, you become exhausted’, ‘when you are too spiritual, you lose contact with the earth’, ‘even good things must be taken in moderation’. The five elements generate each other and subjugate each other. The five main organs correspond to the five elements. This is material, but there is also a mental side ... shenxin, body and mind. Man is the ‘little universe’, a microcosm: you have Tai Ji within Tai Ji, you are moving within the larger universe.

Tai Ji, Xing I, Ba Gua are therefore very subtle names, and the names of their forms are also elegant and subtle. But most translations into English are very crude and clumsy, without subtle meaning or clarity.

The I Ching has very little to do with Tai Ji, it has a little bit more to do with Ba Gua, but for the Internal Martial Arts the crucial text is actually the Yijin Jing, which is still quite solemn and scholarly, but which deals with the eight changes of the muscles, and is thus more closely related to Tai Ji and Ba Gua than the highly philosophical I Ching. There is also the Wu Xing Xi, or 'five animals game', which has a lot of therapeutic value.

In traditional Chinese practices they paid attention to diet, meditation to get blood pressure down, and then also exercise afterwards. Qi Gong Shan Shen Fa, meant the use of qi to strengthen your health, by quietening the mind and calming the breath; also the use of qi to overcome illness.

Zhang Sanfeng was a monk, a Daoist, and it is believed that he discovered many of the points on the body, but some say it was Feng I Yuan. Whichever, they discovered 36 points, then later in fighting reduced to nine fatal points, now today being revived for medical purposes. Miss Li was sceptical about this, 'perhaps I am more Western than you!'. The nine fatal points were considered to be: behind the ears, back of the head, back of the neck, solar plexus, back of the lungs, on the psoas area. The key is how they are touched, for one way of touching would be to cure. It is in Ba Gua that these fighting techniques would be most prominent, using the fingers, or the chop. This also relates to the place and time: in the medicine field it is very helpful to cure people, and in martial arts the timing is also the crucial thing. Another way of showing that Tai Ji is not a fighting art is that it does not have the fingers or the chops to kill or hurt.